2nd Edition
How to Revive High-End Audio
The fear is that as members of the baby-boom generation increasingly look backward at their 50th birthdays, they will equally increasingly remove themselves from the market for two-channel audio components.
The News about DSD
For many, the current hot topic in the world of high-end audio is Direct-Stream Digital (DSD), a method, developed by Sony and Philips, of digitally encoding an analog signal.
Book Review: RA--The Book
RA--The Book: The Recording Architecture Book of Studio Design is a lavish, premium coffee-table book about cutting-edge contemporary architecture in the design of recording and mastering studios and postproduction facilities.
Jecklin Float electrostatic headphones
These are some of the most lusciously transparent-sounding headphones we've ever put on our ears, but we doubt that they will every enjoy much commercial success, for a couple of reasons.
Reference 3a Royal Master Control loudspeaker
The match between amplifier and speaker for single-ended operation is critical, which is why John Atkinson suggested I let Wavelength's Gordon Rankin lead when it came to choosing a speaker to partner his special-edition Cardinal amplifiers.
PSB Imagine T2 Tower loudspeaker
What can you tell about the intrinsic sound quality of a loudspeaker if you've heard it only at an audio show? Arguably, not much.
Music in the Round #63
Ah, for the old mono days. I remember assembling my first audio systems in my early teens and as a novice--things were easy. My first amp had four RCA input jacks, each clearly labeled and corresponding to an identically labeled setting on the input selector switch.
Constellation Audio Performance Centaur Mono monoblock power amplifier
High-performance audio has always been and will probably remain a cottage industry perpetuated by talented and visionary individuals whose products reflect their singular visions and whose companies often bear their names, though of course there are notable exceptions.
Listening #131
Whenever I'm moved by an artist whose work I've never before heard or seen, my first impulse is to wonder: What else has this person done while I slumbered in ignorance?
TAVES 2013 Audio Show Report
Bob Deutsch reports live from the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show!
1st Edition
TAVES 2013 Audio Show Report
Bob Deutsch reports live from the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show!
Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 loudspeaker
Sonus Faber is an iconic Italian high-end company whose loudspeakers have always evinced innovative technical design, superb construction, spectacular appearance, and great sound.
Solo Piano: Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp
I would never have placed Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp in the same category of jazz pianists, but their superb new solo discs--Cary’s For the Love of Abbey (Motema) and Shipp’s Piano Sutras (Thirsty Ear)--find them converging toward close points from different angles.
Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones from Needle Doctor Sweepstakes
Register to win a Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones (MSRP $298) from Needle Doctor we are giving away.
GoldenEar Technology Aon 2 loudspeaker
I was introduced to audiophilia by my friend Gary Gustavsen. Although I'd known Gary since I was 13, I didn't discover his passion for music until that day in high school physics lab when I blurted out an obscure line from the Doors' "The Soft Parade," and Gary bounced back immediately with the next line.
Luxman PD-171 record player
Much ink has been spilled, and rightly so, on the topic of the LP's recent and apparently durable resurrection as a playback medium. The corpse may not be quite as lively after death as before, but it is nonetheless arguably more Lazarus than Lavoisier.
Opera Callas loudspeaker
Colleen Cardas strongly urged me to try the Callas loudspeaker from Opera Loudspeakers (whose products she also distributes in the US), which she claimed was an ideal match for the Unison S6 amplifier I reviewed last August.
The Entry Level #35
In the mornings, just before I leave for work, I power up the system, turn the volume down low, and set the CD player to Repeat. I like to think that if I play calm, soothing music while Ms. Little and I are away, the cats will feel less alone and more relaxed.
The Death of an Audiophile
Thanksgiving will mark two years since Charles died. I still miss him.
The 10th Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Complete Coverage
John Atkinson, Stephen Mejias and Jason Victor Serinus file the internet's most comprehensive coverage of proceedings from Denver Colorado.
Source Stereophile
